Daisy portrait in progress 2 - Iris interruptus

I was going to finish both of Daisy’s eyes today but my yard guys showed up unexpectedly (2 hours early). I can’t concentrate when there are mowers and weed-whackers roaring outside my studio! The eyes are the most important part of a portrait and I need full concentration to do those.

1

“Steel Blue” is one of Canson’s newest paper colors. This was the first time I’ve worked on this color. Daisy’s golden coloring really stands out nicely on it. But when a colored pencil artist works on blue paper, they have to compensate for that with more pronounced red or orange tones in a figure. Colored pencils are a “transparent medium”: the paper color shows through and influences (changes) the color of pencil you put over it.

Daisy’s coat is an interesting color that’s not like any one Prismacolor pencil color. Kind of a caramel color: something between yellow ochre and rust, with a sprinkling of other color hairs in it. It took a variety of pencil colors to capture it. 

2

In this close-up you can really see the variety of pencil colors I was using for Daisy’s face.

And how close I was to filling in the most critical part of her eye(s). I had worked all the way up to the eyeball itself. I hated being interrupted when I was right at that point and had a momentum going on the eyes.

This closeup also shows the short pencil strokes I was using to portray her fur.

3

My working pencils.

🎨 Prismacolor pencil on “Steel Blue” Canson Mi-Teintes paper, 12 x 16 inches.

Commissioned by Mark H. as a gift for his wife Kathy.